patentology

24 December 2010

Holidays mean different things to different people. Sometimes, quite literally.

Holiday Detector

Did you know, for example, that a flaw in a coating intended to protect a pipe, or other conduit, from corrosion is known as a 'holiday'? It is therefore important to be able to reliably check a coated pipe for any such flaws before it is buried in the ground or dropped to the bottom of the ocean. So if you thought that a 'holiday detector' might be a device that sounds an alarm on or around 10 December each year, then you may need to think again! One particular form of electronic holiday detector was the subject of US Patent No. 3,259,893.

'Holiday' Plums

'Holiday' is also, apparently, a distinct cultivar of the Guzmania plant, and is the subject of US Plant Patent no. PP15,924, as well as a plum tree subject of US Plant Patent No. PP15,553.

Guzmania 'Holiday'

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Tasmania - the 'Holiday Isle'

While not patented, Tasmania has somehow earned the name 'Holiday Isle'. We imagined that this was just the result of a marketing campaign, but it has stuck sufficiently to earn an entry in the Macquarie Dictionary!

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Audrey Hepburn, Gregory Peck anda Vespa share a Roman Holiday

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A 'Roman holiday' originally referred to an event or spectacle, in which the suffering of others is used to provide entertainment. Fortunately Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn managed to give this rather gruesome term a positive makeover.

Billie Holiday

And any catalog of famous holidays would be incomplete without jazz singer Billie Holiday!

But the type of holiday we wish for all of our readers this year is a Happy Holiday!

All the best from Patentology for the festive season - however you may spend it - and for the New Year!